The State of Sia, April 2024

This past month the Sia network saw significant progress with key updates to enhance system functionality and user experience. Notable advancements include the introduction of price pinning in the API for hostd, allowing storage providers more flexibility in their pricing strategies. External explorer integration and Prometheus support were also added to hostd, enriching monitoring capabilities and data insights. The renterd component received substantial upgrades, particularly in improving the S3 API's functionality, security, and alignment with standard S3 behaviors. Moreover, our SDK and explorer tools have been updated, introducing new features such as a host revenue calculator and enhanced transaction signing methods. These updates represent our ongoing commitment to refining our decentralized storage solutions.

Reflecting on our published content since the last State of Sia update. Our latest Community Spotlight from redsolver delved into the inner workings of his S5 protocol, its use cases, and future plans. The March Grants Program Update provided a comprehensive overview of the new projects and the innovative minds behind them, showcasing our ongoing efforts to support and enrich the Sia ecosystem. Lastly, the latest Sia S3 Integration article details a significant technological integration, explaining how Sia’s decentralized storage can now seamlessly support Plex media setups, enhancing user experience and accessibility.

In terms of community engagement, Sia’s presence at the Paris Blockchain Week was a valuable opportunity to connect with other industry leaders and share our vision and developments in decentralized storage. The discussions and connections formed there are instrumental in gaining insights and feedback to help us further enhance our platform. Looking forward, the team is excited to be participating in the upcoming MIT Bitcoin Expo. This event is a hub for innovative discussions on blockchain technology, and we anticipate it will be a fantastic venue for showcasing Sia’s contributions to the blockchain ecosystem and for forging new partnerships.

Furthermore, our Grants Program continues to empower developers and innovators within the Sia ecosystem. Recent approvals include exciting new projects such as DeCast, a decentralized platform aimed at revolutionizing digital event archival by ensuring data ownership and flexible storage solutions across various platforms, including the Sia network. Another highlight is the Sia FUSE filesystem, which will enhance the way users interact with stored files by integrating them seamlessly into their local file systems. Additionally, the DartSia mobile app is set to improve mobile access to the Sia network, making it easier and more intuitive for users to manage their storage needs on the go. These initiatives underscore our commitment to expanding Sia’s functionality and accessibility, fostering a vibrant and innovative community.

Development Updates

All public repositories can be found here.

renterd

renterd is our new stand-alone renter. The renterd repository is currently public and can be found here, and the v1 app is available on the Sia website.

• Fixed pagination when querying objects without delimiter using the S3 API, which caused issues with rclone (View)
• Hide S3 secrets from logs (View)
• MaxCollateral setting was removed from gouging checks (View)
• Fixed S3 endpoint ListObjects not returning etag or modtime and changed etags for regular uploads to MD5 to match expected S3 behavior (View)
• Fixed S3 endpoint HeadObject returning an internal error when an object wasn't found instead of the proper error (View)
• Fixed a bug in the sectors cache in the bus (View)
• Update linters checks (View)
• Move host info caching from the autopilot to the bus (View)

renterd ui

This is a small collection of monthly changes. A full, detailed changelog can be found here.

• Account alerts now feature an accounts context menu with the option to reset account drift. Closes (View)
• The contract set change alert data fields are now displayed as one field that shows additions and removals for each contract in one timeline.
• The lost sector alert now shows the number of lost sectors. Closes (View)
• Removed the min-max collateral configuration setting. Closes (View)
• Alert table row cell content is now aligned to the top of each row.
• Fixed an issue where the max RPC price configuration would round decimal values to 0. Closes (View)

hostd

hostd is the app you use to rent out your excess storage space to the Sia network. The hostd repository is public, with the v1 app available on the Sia website.

• Added price pinning to the API to pin prices to a different currency value. (View)

• Added external explorer support to the hostd daemon. This functionality is opt-out and the first time external data has been used by the background service and gives us the ability to provide even more insights to storage providers. Currently only used for price pinning, but may be expanded for other information, like contract revenue cost-basis, in the future.
• Added support for Prometheus to build dashboards in Grafana. Primarily useful for larger setups, but provides additional customization options for how host metrics are viewed.

core

The core repository is public and can be found here.

• We added release information to the host settings (i.e. hostd v1.1.1). This will make it easier to track version-specific issues in our core software.

sdk

• Wallet and transaction signing methods are now part of the SDK.
• Updated SDK to latest core changes and updated structure.

explored

The explored repository is a private repository currently under development.

• Added a few tests to explored (View)
• Add file contract tests (View)
• Update chain subscriber interface (View)

Other

• Siascan now features a host revenue calculator tool: https://siascan.com/host-revenue-calculator

That’s all folks!

Thanks for your continued support and dedication as we build the foundation of the decentralized future.

Take care, and see you next month.

Discord, Email

The State of Sia, April 2024 was originally published in The Sia Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.